Difference between revisions of "Theodore Dreiser"
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Hugo S. Cunningham, [http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/dreiser.html Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): His Friendship to the Soviet People in 1938-1941], CyberUSSR.com, 1999 | Hugo S. Cunningham, [http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/dreiser.html Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): His Friendship to the Soviet People in 1938-1941], CyberUSSR.com, 1999 | ||
Revision as of 17:58, October 4, 2009
Theodore Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American writer, best known for his debut novel, Sister Carrie (1900), a harsh depiction of American society "overtly antagonistic to capitalism's degrading force."[1]
Dreiser was an atheist[2] as well as a Communist, who wrote that "through its attainment of Socialism," the Soviet Union "has given the greatest example in history of the heights of achievement that can be reached by a free people with faith in itself and in all the progressive forces of humanity."[3] In 1928, he visited the Soviet Union, returning to give the New York Times a glowing account, even defending Stalin's purge of Trotsky.[4]
When prominent American liberals like John Dewey objected to the show trials that followed, Dreiser was among those who signed an open letter in support of Stalin's Great Terror, reaffirming "their faith in the Soviet Union, their confidence in the Soviet government, and their friendship for the Soviet people."[5]
When the Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany in the Hitler-Stalin pact for the joint invasion of Poland, partitioning Eastern Europe between them, Dreiser was among the "prominent Americans" named by the Communists "who would write effective brochures explaining and defending the peace policy of the Soviet Union and answering the arguments of the enemy." In early 1941, Dreiser obliged, writing a book arguing that the U.S. should not aid England in its war against Hitler.<ref>Theodore Dreiser, America Is Worth Saving (New York: Modern Age Books, 1941)
Notes
- ↑ Katherine Kearns, Nineteenth-Century Literary Realism: Through the Looking-Glass (Cambridge University Press, 1996) ISBN 0521496063, p. 265, n. 23
- ↑ "Religion: Atheist's Oath," Time, August 20, 1928
- ↑ Theodore Dreiser, "Request to Become a Communist," The Daily Worker, July 30, 1945, reprinted in Albert Fried, Communism in America: A History in Documents (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) ISBN 0231102356, pp. 348-350
- ↑ "DREISER HOME, SEES SOVIET AIMS GAINING; Author Thinks Principles of Government Will Spread Even to This Country. BUT IN A DIFFERENT FORM He Declares There Is No Bread-Line or Unemployment in Russia-- Deplores Coal Strike Here," The New York Times, February 22, 1928, p. 9. Cf. Frederic E. Rusch and Donald Pizer (Eds.), Theodore Dreiser: Interviews (University of Illinois Press, 2004) ISBN 0252029437, pp. 168-170
- ↑ Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Kyrill M. Anderson, The Secret World of American Communism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 304-305
External Links
Hugo S. Cunningham, Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): His Friendship to the Soviet People in 1938-1941, CyberUSSR.com, 1999